Clothing as it relates to life satisfaction among elderly females

The objectives of this research were to determine the differences and relationships between selected clothing preferences--attitude toward comfort, ease of care, and versatility--demographic variables, and life satisfaction.

The sample was comprised of 112 females, over the age of 65, living in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. Respondents varied in place of residence, age, income, prior occupation, education, length of retirement, and amount of volunteer work done.

The one-way analysis of variance was used to test for any differences between the specified clothing attitudes, demographic variables, and life satisfaction. The data were further analyzed to determine relationships of clothing attitudes to life satisfaction using correlation coefficients.

The analysis of data revealed that income significantly affected attitudes toward comfort, ease of care and versatility in clothing. Length of retirement also affected attitude toward ease of care in clothing. Results also indicated that place of residence, income, length of retirement, prior occupation and amount of volunteer work affected overall life satisfaction. Education was not found to be a significant factor affecting life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was not correlated with the three clothing variables.